Former VP of COTY R&D Asia Appointed as Chief Scientist of PROYA
- Chaileedo Press
- Sep 15, 2022
- 2 min read
On September 14, Proya officially announced Wei Xiaolan as its Chief Scientific Officer, who has nearly 20 years of experience in R&D in the global cosmetics field.
According to official information, Wei Xiaolan graduated from the College of Chemistry Molecular Engineering, Perking University, and holds an MBA from New York University: Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania.
In 2018, Wei Xiaolan was the Vice President of Coty Research & Development Asia, which is a world-renowned fragrance and cosmetics giant group. During this time, she helped Coty build a complete local R&D center and an organizational closure of front-end product insights, formulation design, packaging engineering, process, efficacy testing, toxicology, and regulatory departments.
Currently, Wei is expanding in multiple areas of cosmetic ingredients, chemical materials, formulation development, and fragrance design, and has published more than 10 papers in globally renowned academic journals and more than 20 patent studies covering compound synthesis, polymer materials, formulation, and efficacy ingredients.
Proya said that Wei’s joint will inject more international vision into Proya's research career, and is an important step for Proya to continue to build a global R&D team and move into internationalization.
Talent is one of the core assets of a company, and in the past few years, Proya has paid particular attention to the cultivation of R&D talents, thus establishing the image of an R&D-oriented company.
According to Proya's interim financial report in 2022 that was previously announced, the amount of Proya's R&D expenses increased by 29.7 million yuan ($4,262,800) in the first half of the year, and the R&D expense ratio was 4.69%, compared to 3.76% in the same period last year. During the reporting period, it was granted 12 new state-licensed invention patents and submitted 17 new invention patent applications, and 4 new appearance patent applications. By the end of the reporting period, it had 104 state-authorized invention patents. In addition, Proya has also established strategic cooperation with BASF, DSM, Ashland, Evonik, and other internationally renowned raw material companies to further empower product development.
Not only setting up a perfect and high-quality R&D organization structure but also having a strong R&D team. According to Proya's 2021 annual report, the company has 159 R&D staff, accounting for 5.59% of the total number of employees, including 141 with bachelor's degrees or above.
Last year, Proya added the International Scientific Research Institute based on the R&D Innovation Center. At the same time, it is committed to the development of its own patented raw materials, striving to achieve a higher stage from exclusive supply to global originality in the raw material end. It is understood that in the next step, the brand will still put talent, R&D, large single product, and multi-brand in a vital position.
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